Throng

At this week’s judges’ table head judge Tom Colicchio has another difficult task ahead of him – to judge a sweet dish which was made without using any sugar! Top Chef continues its quest to find the next “it” chef on Thursday, March 19th at 7:30pm on 3.

Tom Colicchio may be considered the "bad guy" when it comes time to axing one of the cheftestants, but it seems lately the head judge has turned his image around and is now being referred to as a hero.

The reality show head judge saved fellow chef Joan Nathan from choking to death during the "Art. Food. Hope" benefit in Washington, D.C. recently.

While surrounded by Top Chef fans, Colicchio heard a cry for help from famed chef, Alice Waters, and immediately ran over to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre, saving Nathan who had a chunk of chicken lodged in her wind pipe.

“It all happened so quickly,” Colicchio tells the Internet Food Association of the incident. “I was literally three feet from her. I was having a conversation with somebody else. She came in, and I looked to my right and I saw her holding her throat and two people next to her patting her back.”

“I walked over, put my arms around her and said, ‘Can you talk?’ She said ‘no’. I hit her once. I asked her again. She said ‘no’. I did it again, chicken came out, and that was it. It happened so fast.”

Surprisingly it was Colicchio’s lifeguard training, not his formal chef training, that Nathan can thank for saving her life.

“I had some training when I was a lifeguard when I was 17-years-old,” says the head judge. "But I just did what anyone else would have done and was just happy to be there. I'm thrilled Joan's well."

Make sure not to miss this hero in a different kind of action when Top Chef continues on Thursday, March 19th at 7:30pm on 3.